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  Ultimate Outlet GraphsPS Audio has always tried its best to be forthcoming with technical information about its products. Although some manufacturers seem hesitant to publish specifications and test results of their products, we've tried our best to be open and fair when it comes to publishing the performance results of our equipment.We've been asked by our customers to provide a definitive expose on the Ultimate Outlet and Power Director (which both use the same technology inside) when they are tested for noise reduction. Because the Ultimate Outlet is both affordable and extremely effective in improving the performance of your equipment, it is rapidly approaching the status of a household name for noise reduction and surge and spike protection. The UO technology is based on a balanced magnetic approach of noise reduction and has an extremely short path for the power to navigate on its way to your equipment. But, how well does the UO work when it comes to reducing noises caused by cell phones, appliance and electrical interference common on our home's powerlines? The proof's in the pudding To find out, we performed a series of measurements on the UO. The results were the same for both the High Current and the Standard models of the UO.  In this first graph you can see the results of noise reduction through the UO with a frequency at the low end of the noise spectrum.Cordless phones of older varieties had frequencies higher than the 1MHz shown, and modern cell phones and cordless phones are now approaching 1 GHz. The good news is that the Ultimate Outlet continues to reduce noise as the frequency goes up. What this chart demonstrates is that when high frequency noise is found 'riding' on the 60Hz waveform that comes out of the wall socket of your home, the noise is almost entirely eliminated. Looking at the top graph, note where it is marked 'Input AC'. This shows a 60Hz waveform, typical of your home's AC voltage, with a 1 MHz noise component added to the 60Hz. The 60Hz is the large sideways 'S' shape and the 1 MHz noise appears to make the 'S' shape thick.  Looking at the lower graph, note how the 'thick' noise has vanished from the 'S' shaped 60Hz waveform. This is because the Ultimate Outlet has cleaned the noise from the 60Hz, leaving the primary power intact and clean.This next example of the UO's performance demonstrates the effectiveness of the UO in eliminating common mode noise. Common mode noise is the most (pardon the wording here) 'common' of the noises found on our home's AC powerlines. This is because noise that is carried through the airwaves from cell phones, computers, cordless phones, vacuum cleaners, etc. do not discriminate between the hot and the neutral wiring in your walls. Both the hot and neutral wires in your home's AC power delivery system are contaminated with these airborne noises equally. Hence the name 'common mode' as the noise is common to both wires.  The UO is particularly adept at eliminating common mode noise. Looking at the example above you can see that the UO will begin to reduce common mode noise at 1 MHz. At 10 MHz the UO has reduced common mode noise by nearly 50 dB and the reduction continues as the noise frequency goes higher.Most computer and cell phone noise is in the 500 MHz to 1 GHz (1000 mHz) range is basically non-existent once cleansed by the Ultimate Outlet. Another form of noise which is prevalant on our AC lines is differential noise. Differential noise is usually caused by powerline anomalies like the turn-on click of an air conditioner or refrigerator. These quick spikes in the powerline can generate lots of unwanted higher order noise components. Very few powerline conditioners or filters reject both common mode and differential mode noise. The UO is an exception to this rule.  Note that the UO starts reducing differential mode noise at 100 kHz and is nearly 100 dB down at 10 MHz. This is a significant improvement over most any noise filter on the market.The real key to the UO's success While there may be a few noise filters on the market that can lay claim to similar results in noise reduction as we have demonstrated here with the UO, none can also offer the sonic and visual performance that the UO does. This is because the UO is the only filter on the market today that uses such a short path to achieve its magic. The UO uses less than 1 foot of heavy copper wire in a direct path between the input AC of the UO and the output of the UO. Combine this very small amount of copper in the AC's path with our huge balun core of powdered iron, balanced circuitry, and we think you'll find the Ultimate Outlet to be a unique and valuable piece of equipment that no serious audio or video system should be without. Why not try one out in your home? Click here to audition one for 30 days, risk free. |
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